Who are we becoming?

Developing the team while working with the system

What happens when you bring nearly 30 colleagues from across a Cancer Alliance into a room and ask them not simply what they do, but who they might need to become together?

That was where we began recently in Ely, with the East of England Cancer Alliance, at the first of six workshops in a development journey we've collaboratively designed with colleagues across the Alliance.

And there was plenty to work with.  Cancer Alliances operate in complex territory. Their impact depends not simply on what happens within one team or organisation, but on relationships across pathways, professions, providers, systems and communities. Leadership frequently means influencing without direct authority, connecting across boundaries and creating the conditions in which others can do their best work.

So, when we began designing this programme, we started by listening.  Colleagues told us they wanted development that was practical, interactive and connected to real work. They wanted opportunities to learn with colleagues they might not ordinarily work alongside, reflect together and experiment with different ways of working.

The resulting programme combines six whole-team workshops with Action Learning Sets, Skills Labs, Espresso Coaching and real-work experimentation, before coming together to share and celebrate the learning in March 2027. 

Connection before content

Our first workshop, Who are we becoming?, began with people rather than PowerPoint.

We explored some of the stories, experiences and influences that shape who we are and how we show up at work, drawing lightly on Marshall Ganz's ideas about the story of self, the story of us and the story of now.

We also created our learning contract: what will we need from ourselves, from one another and from those supporting the programme if this is to be worthwhile?

And then things got wonderfully messy.

Putting the system on the wall

Armed with brown paper, Post-it notes, marker pens and quite a lot of wool, colleagues began to map the Alliance.  Not an organisational chart.

A living picture of the work: teams, portfolios, expertise, relationships, interdependencies and connections into the wider cancer system.

Different groups explored the same system through different lenses: work and interdependence; flow and friction; the wider system; and patients, communities and purpose. 

The finished map was complex, colourful and interconnected.  Rather like the system itself.

The important part wasn't producing the “right” map. It was stepping back from it together and asking:  What can we see now that we couldn't see from inside our own part of the Alliance?

From NOW to NEXT

We then turned towards the next 12–18 months.

What's coming towards us?
What might become possible?
Which relationships will matter?

And finally, standing in front of everything we'd created during the day, we asked:

Who might we need to become?

The responses included ideas about becoming more ambitious, flexible, collaborative, connected, open-minded, empowered, entrepreneurial, person-centred and holistically inclusive, alongside aspirations to create the best possible experience and an excellent place to work. Those contributions have since been brought together by a member of the team using AI to elaborate and extend their statements into this lovely visual representation. 

And that's where we'll continue from.  Our development journey moves through a deliberate arc:

WE FORM → WE CHOOSE → WE ADAPT → WE EXTEND → WE EXPERIMENT → WE EMBED…and then we celebrate our progress and impact.

We'll explore how colleagues choose to work together, remain resourceful through change, influence a system they don't control, become braver and more fleet of foot, and ultimately embed what they're learning into everyday practice. 

Because for us, meaningful organisational development isn't something that's done to a team.

It's about creating the conditions for people to connect, make sense of the system they're part of, work with real challenges, notice things they couldn't see before, and make conscious choices about what they want to do differently.

Less “training”. More learning together through doing.

We're really looking forward to seeing where the journey takes us.